Saturday, 16 May 2015

I have just sent this to my MP via the excellent http://www.writetothem.com site run by MySociety.org

Dear...,

I write again, on another subject - I apologise for so many letters, I try to keep them concise, but there are many issues with the new government.

I was horrified at the prime ministers statement “For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens: as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone.".

The essense of Magna Carta is that people will not be interefed with unless they have broken the law - the 800th aniversary of the signing of Magna Carta is currently being celebrated, an aniversary David Cameron has made some play on - but here shows he has not the slightest idea what the document means.

Furhter, while attacking the hard won and long standing principles of Magna Carta, his government are furhter weakening the publics protection from an oppressive the state by proposing to exit the ECHR before any replacement has been agreed.

The ECHR, like Magna Carta primarily exists to protect the public from the excess of the state/government - it can never be right that such constitutional protections can be removed by that state/government without overwhelming, direct and specific agreement of the people (an item among many others in a general election manifesto meets none of these requirements).

The ECHR has many faults in its interpretation and enforcement, but not in the broad principles it sets out.

To remove they principles of ECHR and Magna Carta without overwhelming, direct and specific consent from the public is a tyranical act - I trust this will not happen.